Starless Nights
by ediblesquirtles
Summary: Gaara, the newly-appointed Kazekage, gets a bodyguard against his wishes. Perhaps the Kazekage isn't as cold as he seems? One-shot.


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. o.o

The night was dark, silence settling over the village like a soft blanket. A breeze blew the loose sand from the streets and swirled it into the air. Only a few windows in the buildings remain lighted. The yellow squares of light shine onto the dusty pavement. On the rooftop of the Kazekage's Residence, a lone figure sits, the wind blowing his brick-red hair behind him.

The moon hung high in the inky dark sky, casting its pale watery light on the young man's face. His eyes, the palest green rimmed with black, wandered the night sky with its scattering of stars, then dropped to the village skyline. The dusty buildings stood tall for their maximum of three stories, stark against the black of the sky. The buildings in Suna had few stories, better to withstand the frequent sandstorms that constantly battered the village. The young man's eyes swiveled now to face the rooftop by his side. A clattering sound; a tousled mop of short cropped brown hair popped up above the gutter. A pair of sleepy sea-green eyes looked at the 15-year old boy. "…Kazekage-sama? Why aren't you in bed?" The Kazekage, a.k.a. Sabaku no Gaara, sighed, a tiny sound that could have gone unnoticed. But not by this trained bodyguard with razor-sharp honed reflexes and senses. "What's wrong, Kazekage-sama?" The Kazekage swiveled his eyes toward the sky again. "…Nothing." Curse Temari for getting him a guard, even though he'd protested that he didn't need one. The young girl looked at the boy who was her age but probably ten times her rank and status. "If you say so, Kazekage-sama. By the way, as your bodyguard, it is my duty to ensure that you are in bed by this time and not up on the roof." Gaara looked at this plucky young girl who dragged herself up here in the dead of the night to ask him to go to bed. "You know very well that I'm an insomniac, _-san." The girl put on a poker face and crossed her arms. "That doesn't change my duty one bit, Kazekage-sama." The boy stared at the girl a moment longer, then closed his eyes and swiveled his legs out from under him. "All right, _-san. I'm coming. So that you can get your sleep and fulfill your precious duty." The girl's face split into a wide grin. "Thank you, Kazekage-sama! _Oyasumi nasai_."

Over the course of the next few days, the girl accompanied the Kazekage almost everywhere, standing, watching silently beside him as he signed paperwork; with him on the tours he took around the village to meet his people; up on the roof at night to watch the stars. Some nights Gaara wasn't as compliant as he was the first time his bodyguard found him up on the roof, so this resulted in the girl staying up with him, yawning and rubbing her eyes, while her master stared up at the stars with his never-blinking green eyes.

Another day dawned bright and clear, with a cerulean blue sky as usual. The Kazekage put aside a stack of paperwork, swiveled his chair around and faced his young bodyguard. "…_-san." The girl's sea-green eyes gazed steadily back at Gaara, with no sign of flickering or emotion. "_Hai_, Kazekage-sama." "I understand that you do not live in Suna itself, but in a small village on the outskirts of Suna. You have a diseased mother, and a little brother to support. They live solely on your wages." A flicker passed in the girl's eyes, something more than pain. "…_Hai_." The Kazekage looked at the girl a moment longer, pale green boring into sea green. Then he sighed slightly. "I'm going to dismiss you from service. You may return to your family. I will cover your daily expenses." The girl gaped at the Kazekage for a full minute. Then her eyes filled with tears that spilled onto her cheeks. "Oh… my… Kazekage-sama…! Thank you… so much!" She bowed profusely, tears dripping off her chin onto the carpet. The Kazekage sighed again. "Stop crying, _-san. I don't really need so many thanks… What I'm doing is only a small token of appreciation for your services. And as a substitute for your many sleepless nights." The girl rubbed away her tears. "I'd go without sleep for the rest of my life, Kazekage-sama, if I can only repay you!" The Kazekage sighed for the third time. "Enough chatter, _-san. You'd better pack your stuff. By tonight eight p.m., I will have your name cleared off our duty rosters. The money will be sent to you weekly. Understand?" The girl beamed through her tears. "Absolutely, Kazekage-sama!" "Good. Now go, you're dismissed. Be safe." "HAI!" … …

Even years after the girl had been dismissed, the Kazekage couldn't forget her. As he sat on the roof on another of his nightly star-gazing expeditions, he recalled her last words, and her smile full of gratitude, joy, and something more.

"_Kazekage-sama… thank you…!"_


End file.
